EU launches investigation into transatlantic venture

A transatlantic joint venture between Air France-KLM, Alitalia and Delta Air Lines has come under the scrutiny of the European Commission, which said this week that it would investigate the venture to see if it breaches EU antitrust rules. The SkyTeam partners are fully coordinating their transatlantic operations regarding capacity, schedules, pricing and revenue management, and are even sharing profits and losses, under a joint venture concluded in 2009 and 2010.“The Commission will investigate whether the partnership may harm passengers on certain EU-US routes where, in the absence of the joint venture, the parties would be providing competing services,” the European Commission said.A similar investigation into a oneworld transatlantic joint venture concluded in July 2010 when British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia accepted a set of legally binding commitments that addressed the commission’s competition concerns. An investigation into Star Alliance members Lufthansa, Air Canada, Continental Airlines and United Airlines is ongoing.BusinessWeek